Buildings and other structures are known to experience stress from many sources, such as extreme and/or repetitive changes in temperature, the force of high impinging winds, compression and expansion forces due to seismic events, settling of subsoil, building remodels, and excavation on or near the site. To minimize the effect of these stresses on the buildings or other structures, building codes specify that structures be constructed with spaces between adjacent wall, floor, and ceiling building units. These spaces, commonly referred to as “expansion spaces” or “expansion joint spaces,” allow differential building movement to take place and mitigating damage to the structure, and thus are frequently referred to as “dynamic expansion spaces.”
While expansion spaces improve the integrity of structures, they present a risk in the event of a fire because the channels created by the expansion spaces act as chimney flues providing pathways for gases, flame, and smoke to spread rapidly throughout the structure. To counter the flue effect, building codes for commercial or public structures generally require certified fire-barriers to be installed in the expansion spaces to reduce or prevent the spread of flames, smoke, and gas through the spaces into adjoining areas.
The installation of conventional fire barriers typically requires nailing, screwing in, bolting, gluing or otherwise fixedly anchoring the fire barrier to the building structures forming the expansion space via mechanical or adhesive fasteners. The installation of such conventional fire barriers is time consuming, labor intensive, may require special tools to anchor the fasteners into the building structure, and involves modifying and damaging (e.g. creating holes in or applying adhesive to) the building structure to secure the fire barrier assembly thereto.
Some conventional fire barriers may be formed with attachment portions configured to extend outside of the expansion space to allow the fire barrier to be anchored to an outer surface (e.g. top or bottom end) of the building structures. However, in many circumstances building specifications do not permit or allow for fire barriers to extend past and/or be attached to the outer surfaces (e.g. top or bottom end walls) of the building structures. In such situations, the fire barrier must be inside-mounted, with opposing sides of the fire barrier being anchored and secured to the building structures at anchor points located within the expansion space. As the expansion spaces between structures are typically narrow (in many circumstances only 1 to 2 inches wide), the anchoring of inside-mounted fire barriers to the inner surfaces of the expansion space may require additional time and effort to maneuver the required installation tools within the narrow space.
Additionally, conventional fire barriers typically are fixedly anchored to the building structure. The removal of, or even adjustment of the positioning of, the fire barrier may therefore be significantly hindered, and may altogether be impossible without damaging the fire barrier. Moreover, the bolts, pins, nails, screws, or other mechanical fasteners which are driven through the fire barrier to anchor the fire barrier to the building structures create openings or apertures in the fire barrier through which gases, flames, and smoke may be able to pass. As such, conventional fire barriers and the methods currently used for installing such fire barriers may reduce or diminish the efficacy of the fire barrier.